Beirut southern suburb road reopened 30 minutes after flooding, says ministry

BEIRUT — The Ministry of Public Works stated on Saturday that its teams intervened Friday night to address water accumulation caused by stormy weather on a section of road in the al-Rihab area in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The ministry added that the road was “fully reopened in less than 30 minutes, allowing the water to recede and traffic to resume immediately.”

“Upon arrival, the technical teams found that the sole cause of the flooding was blocked rainwater drains due to randomly dumped waste. This was a surface-level blockage, unrelated to pipelines or infrastructure. Consequently, the situation did not require the use of high-pressure machines; the intervention was limited to removing the waste and manually clearing the drains,” the ministry’s statement read.

Local media reported floods in several areas of the capital on Friday night due to heavy rainfall and clogged drainage channels.

Regarding the capital, the ministry noted that while the administrative area of Beirut falls under the jurisdiction of the Beirut Municipality and not the ministry, it “remains ready to provide support and assistance when needed.”

The intensity of the storm, which began Thursday night, is expected to decrease on Saturday. The torrential rain and strong winds also caused material damage in Sour on Friday.

In September, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, led by Fayez Rasamny, launched an awareness campaign against littering on roads, one of the main causes of the recurrent flooding that affects the country’s major roads every winter.

Each year, winter rains in Lebanon cause significant flooding on many main roads, worsened by poor infrastructure maintenance and clogged drains, paralyzing traffic and trapping motorists, particularly in low-lying coastal areas.